Kashmir is not forgotten. We are not going to let it happen: Dr. Korhola

Views

Washington, D.C. February 6, 2106. “It is in the interest of world peace that India and Pakistan need to resolve the Kashmir dispute to the satisfaction of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The final and durable settlement of the Kashmir dispute will undoubtedly guarantee peace and stability in the region of South Asia. It will also have a great impact on the international peace and security,” this was stated by Dr. Eija-Riitta Korhola who served as the member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament and who was the key-note speaker at the Kashmir Solidarity Day event organized here by friends of Kashmir in Washington, DC metropolitan area and beyond. The event was attended by a large number of people interested in peace and stability in the region of South Asia.

Dr. Korhola added, “Kashmir is not forgotten. We are not going to let it happen. Why? Because as human beings we cannot afford ignoring basic right of self-determination. She emphasized, “The Kashmir problem was in many ways created by one of our members in the EU. When the British left India in 1947, they left without defining the future of Kashmir. Because of this historical background Europe has a special responsibility to make sure that the Kashmiri people will get the right to have the promised referendum to define their own future.”

Dr. Korhola suggested that all sides of the conflict – India, Pakistan and Kashmiris – should talk to each other with respect. We do not need to tell the Kashmiris what they want. They should be provided the full opportunity to decide whatever they want without any external pressure.

Mr. Lars Rise, founding Chairman of the Norwegian Parliamentary Kashmir Committee pleaded for a third party mediation to help bring all parties concerned to the negotiating table. How can India and Pakistan think to resolve the Kashmir conflict without the participation of the Kashmiri leadership when we know that the Kashmiri people are the primary party to the dispute, Lars added?

Mr. Rise said as per specific UN Resolutions on Kashmir it does not need to be defined as to what is the solution of the Kashmir issue. The referendum should give the people of Kashmir all choices: whether to be the part of India or Pakistan or to remain independent.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, Secretary General of the World Kashmir Awareness said that ”No one knows better than Washington foreign policy experts that American strategy of conflict in a region involving India, Pakistan and Afghanistan — and of the delicate relationship that need to be safeguarded from violent disruption. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir and the potential for a more devastating third can hardly be said to have been removed, especially in view of the nonviolent and popular uprising in Kashmir. Despite the heavy cost, the people of Kashmir are not likely to give up their demand to right of self-determination, Fai continued.

We fail to understand why India and Pakistan do not want the Kashmiri participation in the talks when the right to choose the destiny of 18 million people was given by the UN Security Council to the inhabitants of the territory and not to the leadership in New Delhi or Islamabad, Fai added. Any attempt to strike a deal between any two parties without associating the third, will always lead us to a barren land. So, the future negotiations must be tripartite between the Governments of India & Pakistan and the leadership of the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Senator (Dr.) Akbar Khawaja, quoted Bilal Bhutto, the Co-Chairman of PPP, “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it.” Bilawal also said, “Quaid-e-Awam Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto had a special place for Kashmir and Kashmir people in their hearts. I will follow the policy of my predecessors on the Kashmir issue because their struggle for the right to self-determination is historic.”

Dr. Imtiaz Khan, Senior Vice President, Kashmiri American Council who recently came back from the Valley mentioned the atrocities are being committed by Indian army on the civilian population day in and day out. Syed Ali Geelani, the leader of Kashmiri resistance gave me a simple message, Khan added, and the message was, The Kashmiri diaspora has a responsibility to internationalize the Kashmir conflict.

Mr. Javaid Rathore, Former Advisor to Prime Minister Bainazair Bhutto said that the international community needs to realize her responsibility to help urge both India and Pakistan to set a stage for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

Ali Shahnawaz Khan, Executive Director, Kashmiri Scandinavian Council said that Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris. It is they who have the right to decide its future, Khan said.

Others who spoke included Sardar Zarif Khan, Sardar Zubair Khan. Sardar Zulfiqar Khan was the ‘M.C.’ of the event.

The event concluded by forming the human chain by hundreds of participants to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Similar Posts

  • Twelfth International Kashmir Conference Concluded in New York

    New York. December 11, 2015. Twelfth International Kashmir Peace Conference, entitled, “Beyond the Blame Game: Finding Common Grounds for Peace and Justice in Kashmir,” organized by International Educational Development (IED) at the Church Center of the United Nations, New York, attended among others by the academics, researchers, the delegates from various United Nations Missions, representatives of the United Nations NGO’s, social and civil rights activists, political analysts and prominent Americans of South Asian origin, began with the key-note speech delivered by Hon. Ramsey Clark, 66th Attorney General of the United States.

  • The JNU Protest: The Right to Dissent

    In many respects the brouhaha over the Jawahar Lal Nehru (JNU) protest and the arrest of the student union president Kanhaiya Kumar can be counted as a good thing, in that it has brought the issue of Kashmir again into the national limelight, encouraging discussion and dialogue about self-determination.

    Kashmir is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, but yet it is being treated like dirt under the rug. Responsibility for it must ultimately be faced, because, sooner or later, it will be exposed. The authorities will hope that the JNU protest and Afzal Guru can be swept under the rug of the Indian conscience too. But repression invariably brings about the very opposite.

  • “We need pens and computers, and not guns and grenades” Lord Nazir Ahmed

    Chicago, September 8, 2015. “Tripartite negotiations between Governments of India, Pakistan and Kashmiri leadership is the only way to resolve the outstanding dispute of Jammu & Kashmir,” said Lord Nazir Ahmed, Member, British House of Lords during the 52nd Annual Convention of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on the subject of, ‘Kashmir: A Case of Steadfastness.’

  • Kashmiris Demanded UN Pledged Right of Self-Determination

    New York, October 26, 2015. A huge peace march took place in New York in which thousands of friends of Kashmir participated. The march was jointly sponsored by all groups who believe in the right of self-determination of the people of Kashmir.

    The very inspiring March began at the Indian Mission to the UN on 43rd Street and led up 3rd Avenue to 47th, terminating in front of the United Nations. The cooperation of NY state and city police was exemplary, and there were no incidents which marred the event.

    Hundreds also participated in London, Brussels, Islamabad and Muzaffarabad with their own marches. In Srinagar, Kashmir, however, the leadership was put under house arrest in Srinagar so they could not go the office of the UN and present the memorandum.

  • Kashmir and the Nuclear Threat

    “The best way to solve any problem is to remove its cause.” Martin Luther King

    “Nuclear weapons are the scourge of the earth; to mine for them, manufacture them, deploy them, use them, is a curse against God, the human family, and the earth itself.” Philip Berrigan, American Peace Activist.

    The nuclear age has placed in the world’s lap a growing and complex set of threats that create the possibility of an all-out holocaust in some part of the world almost every day. We now have North Korea threatening Seoul, testing intercontinental ballistic missiles and bragging about hydrogen bombs. Few people know that the Korean War has never ended. The Armistice Agreement was just a ceasefire. No formal treaty was ever signed. Then there’s NATO playing war games at Russia’s borders, with generals talking about taking back Crimea. And let’s not forget Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who has threatened to attack Iran unilaterally if no one else does it. But in South Asia, the mainstream media seems to overlook frequently a continuous and ongoing threat of another kind.

  • The Kashmir Dispute: Taking Lessons from Aaland Islands

    There are some disputes in modern history that one might take lessons from in understanding the wisest course to take in resolving the Kashmiri dispute.

    The Aaland Islands is a case in point. The Aaland Islands are joined at the hip — well, should I say, the toe of Finland — and has been considered of strategic importance from the standpoint of defense for Sweden, because of its role as a kind of sentinel to the entrances to the port of Stockholm, as well as the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, in addition to being situated near the Gulf of Finland.